SOf the ten “night sessions” currently organized for this 2022 edition of Roland-Garros, only one match was dedicated to women’s tennis. If Alizé Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko had the nocturnal honors of Philippe-Chatrier, no other player could be put forward by the broadcasters and the organization. If the top names of the ATP, like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, logically attract attention, the younger generation, like Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, also passes in front of the players.
It is to wonder even if, after the end of the course of the French, the women’s tournament of Roland-Garros is still in progress, so much we hear little about it. And it’s not just the televisions that shun the players: during the first rounds, we almost never saw the Chatrier or the Lenglen well filled when they appeared on the court. After the thinnings Jeanjean and Parry on the side of tricolor tennis, anonymity has unfortunately returned.
A delicate equation for the organization
Amélie Mauresmo, the new tournament director, is playing a perilous game of balancing act regarding the scheduling of matches. If she wants to promote more and more women’s matches, she comes up against a sad reality: the televisions claim above all Nadal & cie. “The problem in fact is to put the matches that will interest the most people at the best time. As soon as we have beautiful posters on the men’s side, on the women’s side, of course we will put them forward. Of course, we will respond to the demand from television and the public for these matches to be on the front of the stage. It is also up to us to put all this forward so that people and the public, viewers, really have this reflex. We have a responsibility to promote fairly, even if we know that at the moment men’s tennis is going through an incredible period, ”said the former Wimbledon winner to Eurosport.
#RolandGarros night sessions:
May 23: Djokovic-Nishioka
May 24: Musetti-Tsitsipas
May 25: Moutet-Nadal
May 26: Cornet-Ostapenko
May 27: Korda-Alcaraz
May 28: Rune-Gaston
May 29: Khachanov-Alcaraz
May 30: Cilic-Medvedev
May 31: Djokovic-Nadal
June 1: Ruud-RuneMen: 9
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lanza (@gasparlanca) May 31, 2022
Women: 1
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How can this increasingly pronounced incognito aspect be explained? The current women’s circuit can however count on the emergence of a great champion like Iga Swiatek. The one who has just turned 21 revealed herself in 2020 by winning Roland-Garros. Undisputed world number one this year, she does not yet have the dimension of her brilliant predecessors, such as Serena Williams, the regularity of Justine Henin, or even the aura of Maria Sharapova. If Swiatek still has time to reach an equivalent status, the Polish illustrates in spite of herself a WTA which seeks a second wind at the level of its charismatic figures. Unless you are a connoisseur, no one can name the top 5 of the women’s circuit today.
Behind Swiatek, the desert…
Difficult to ensure its place in the elite of women’s tennis. Prodigy Naomi Osaka struggled to confirm her outbreak due to hard-to-digest pressure. Ons Jabeur, sensation from the beginning of the year, did not manage to pass the first round on the side of the Porte d’Auteuil, proof that the chronic instability of women’s tennis is still there. Ashleigh Barty, who won the last Australian Open, announced that she was retiring from sport aged just 25 last March. We are almost hoping for the return of Serena Williams to rekindle the flame. Disappeared from the courts for more than a year, the American maintains the mystery about her comeback, she who still dreams of equaling 40-year-old Margaret Smith Court in the number of grand slam titles won.
READ ALSORoland-Garros : pendant ce temps, Roger Federer…
Beyond the absence of headliners, it is also the evolution of the proposed game that is in question. In 2017, in an interview with Pointthe old 20e world Catherine Tanvier was not tender with the current players and regretted too many stereotypes in their game. “Before, we relied much more on the construction of points. From now on, we are witnessing a succession of unforced errors and winning points. In fact, many game sectors have jumped. The volley, the smash, the slice, the sprint, the slides. Some do not know how to move, even run. These are technical details. These girls are tutored by coaches who keep them in very small playing areas, which effectively leads to the dumbest tennis ever. All that remains is to hope for new players capable of putting on a show, otherwise Amazon’s “night sessions” risk concentrating for quite a while on the dominant figures of the ATP.
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